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Dehumanizing practices do not belong in schools.
The Need

Human-Centered
Dehumanizing practices do not belong in schools.

Trauma-Informed
Attend to the practices, policies, and aspects of institutional culture that traumatize children at school.

Self-Determined
Flow statesEntering flow states - or attention tunnels - is a necessary coping strategy for many of us.Fergus Murray People need to feel appreciated and safe, to give themselves to an... are the pinnacle of intrinsic motivationSelf-determination Theory (SDT) is... — a model, a macro theory, of human motivation. It’s one of several models of human motivation, but it’s one that has been confirmed over and..., where somebody wants to do something for themselves, for the sake of doing it and doing it well.

Equity Literate
The path to equityEquityA commitment to action: the process of redistributing access and opportunity to be fair and just.A way of being: the state of being free of bias, discrimination, and identity-predictable outcomes... requires direct confrontations with inequity
EquityA commitment to action: the process of redistributing access and opportunity to be fair and just.A way of being: the state of being free of bias, discrimination, and identity-predictable outcomes....

Open Technology
No student will have mechanical limitations in access to either information or communication.

Space
The spaces where we belong do not exist. We build them with radical love and revolutionary liberation.
- 🫀 Human-Centered
- 🩸 Trauma-Informed
- 💆♀️ Self-Determined
- ⚖️ Equity Literate
- 🔧 Open Technology
- ✅ Key Takeaways
- 👋🧷🌳 Space
🫀 Human-Centered
Twenty Systems, Summarized Within 4 Values Statements, That Must Be Changed for a Human-Centric, Equitable System
Learning is rooted in purposeSelf-determination Theory (SDT) is... — a model, a macro theory, of human motivation. It’s one of several models of human motivation, but it’s one that has been confirmed over and... finding and community
What I have always been hoping to accomplish is the creation of community.Community is magic. Community is power. Community is resistance.Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century https://www.amazon.com/Disability-Visibility-First-Person-Stories-Twenty-First-ebook/dp/B082ZQBL98/ https://www.amazon.com/Disability-Visibility-Adapted-Young-Adults-ebook/dp/B08VFT4R9T/... relevance.
- Map a Path to Purpose
- Learn Experientially
- Connect to the Community
- Promote Literacy
- Create Cross-Disciplinary Classrooms
Social justice is the cornerstone to educational success.
- Support a Reflective Space
- Demand Inclusive Spaces
- Authenticate Student Voice
- Adopt Critical Pedagogy
- Utilize Restorative Justice
Dehumanizing practices do not belong in schools.
- Radically Reduce Homework
- Build Strong Relationships
- Eliminate Grading
- Redefine Assessment and End Testing
- Reform Food Systems
Learners are respectful toward each other’s innate human worth.
- Self-Direct Learning
- Support and Elevate Teachers
- Stay Buzzword Free
- Cooperate, Don’t Force Competition
- Support Multi-Age Classrooms
Source: The Need
Create a neurodiverse inclusive environment.
- Adapt the Environment
- The sensory environment
- The timely environment
- The explicit environment
- The predictable environment
- The social environment
- Support the Individual
- Disclosing diagnosis
Self diagnosis is not just “valid” — it is liberatory. When we define our community ourselves and wrest our right to self-definition back from the systems that painted us as...
- Project management
- Communication styles
- Well-being and work-life balance
- Trouble-shooting
- Disclosing diagnosis
Source: “IT’S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE”


Seven Pathways to Ensuring Life Long Learning Competencies
- Choice and Comfort
- Instructional Tolerance
- Universal Design for Learning"Sure," they say, "with enough humiliation we can allow you to do things differently, as long as you understand that we'll never consider you an equal part of the school.".../Individualization of Learning
- Maker-Infused Curriculum
- Project/Problem/Passion-Based Learning
- Interactive Technologies
- Connectivity
Source: Seven Pathways to Ensuring Life Long Learning Competencies
The Eight GAP Principles
The Eight Principles of Good AutismAutistic ways of being are human neurological variants that can not be understood without the social model of disability.If you are wondering whether you are Autistic, spend time amongst Autistic people, online and offline. If... Practice are embedded in four themes: ‘Understanding the Individual’, ‘Positive and Effective Relationships’, ‘Enabling Environments’, and ‘Learning and Development’.
Understanding the Individual
Principle One: Understanding the strengths, interests, and needs of each autisticAutistic ways of being are human neurological variants that can not be understood without the social model of disability.If you are wondering whether you are Autistic, spend time amongst Autistic people, online and offline. If... child.
Principle Two: Enabling the autistic child to contribute to
and influence decisions.
Positive and Effective Relationships
Enabling Environments
Learning and Development
Principle Seven: Targeted support and measuring the progress of autistic children.
Principle Eight: Adapting the curriculum, teaching, and learning to promote wellbeing and success for autistic children.
Source: Schools Competency Framework | Autism Education Trust
Strong, Trusting Relationships
Autists conceptualise the world in terms of trustedAutists conceptualise the world in terms of trusted relationships with unique people.The beauty of collaboration at human scale The Autistic way of developing trust is based on experienced domain-specific competence.... relationships with unique people…
The beauty of collaboration at human scale
“It just fits my needs better”: Autistic students and parents’ experiences of learning from home during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic
They need strong, trusting relationships with their teachers and peers; a learning environment that suits their needs; and some flexibility and control over their time and rhythm of their learning
Liz Pellicano on Twitter
🩸 Trauma-Informed
Attend to the practices, policies, and aspects of institutional culture that traumatize children at school.
Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education
Principle 1: Antiracist, anti-oppression—Trauma-informed education is antiracist and against all forms of oppression.
Principle 2: Asset based—Trauma-informed education is asset based and doesn’t attempt to fix kids, because kids are not broken. Instead, it addresses the conditions, systems, and structures that harm kids.
Principle 3: Systems oriented—Trauma-informed education is a full ecosystem, not a list of strategies.


Principle 5: Universal and proactive—Trauma-informed education is a universal approach, implemented proactively.
- Shift from a reactive stance, in which we identify who has been traumatized
In expanding our definitions of trauma, we must make sure we see trauma as a structural issue, not just an individual one. Scholars now recognize what people from marginalized communities... and support them, to a proactive approach. Trauma-informed practices are universal and benefit everyone.
- Shift from a savior mentality, in which we see ourselves as rescuing broken kids, to unconditional positive regard, a mindsetThe marketing of mindsets was everywhere this year: “How to Develop Mindsets for Compassion and Caring in Students.” “Building A Tinkering Mindset In Young Students Through Making.” “6 Must-Haves for... that focuses on the inherent skills, capacities, and value of every student. Educators shouldn’t aim to heal, fix, or save but to be connection makers and just one of many caring
The activities that constitute care are crucial for human life. We defined care in this way: Care is "a species activity that includes everything that we do to maintain, continue,... adults in a child’s life.
- Shift from seeing trauma-informed practices as the responsibility of individual teachers to embedding them in the way that we do school, from policies to practice. Trauma-informed teachers need trauma-informed leaders.
- Shift from focusing only on how trauma
In expanding our definitions of trauma, we must make sure we see trauma as a structural issue, not just an individual one. Scholars now recognize what people from marginalized communities... affects our classroom to seeing how what happens in our classroom can change the world. We can partner with our students as change makers for a more just society.
Source: Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education
The work we’re doing for equity in our schools is really the same work that we need to do to disrupt those things that cause trauma.
What does it mean to have an equity-centered, trauma-informed classroom? w/ Alex Venet – YouTube
💆♀️ Self-Determined
Intrinsic Motivation: Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose
How do we build learning environments that embrace intrinsic motivation: autonomySelf-determination Theory (SDT) is... — a model, a macro theory, of human motivation. It’s one of several models of human motivation, but it’s one that has been confirmed over and..., masterySelf-determination Theory (SDT) is... — a model, a macro theory, of human motivation. It’s one of several models of human motivation, but it’s one that has been confirmed over and..., and purpose?
The Gift: LD/ADHD Reframed
What we know about successful human beings is they take an interest and they make it a passion and they take the passion and they make it a sense of purpose and they take the sense of purpose and they build a pathway.
Lab School Lecture Series
Self-Determination and Executive Processes
- Engage autistic adolescents and young adults in research on how to leverage strengths and areas of needs related to assessing executive processes to advance self-determined goal-directed actions and use knowledge gained to advance decision-making about sup- ports for assessment and intervention.
- Integrate objective measures of executive processes with subjective measures of self-determinationSelf-determination Theory (SDT) is... — a model, a macro theory, of human motivation. It’s one of several models of human motivation, but it’s one that has been confirmed over and... to understand how objective indicators and subjective perceptions change, or do not change, together with interventions and supports.
- Enhance self-determination interventions, including facilitator training protocols such as those associated with the SDLMI, to explicitly target a range of executive processes, particularly cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control, guided by the valuesRemind yourself that shared values, rather than shared beliefs, are what matter when it comes to interacting with others, and that there is no replacement for doing the hard work... and needs of the autistic community.
- Recognize the unique issues encountered by all adolescents, including autistic adolescents, and consider how the increased risk taking and impulsivity that may manifest during the transition to adulthood period can be reframedWhen we successfully reframe public discourse, we change the way the public sees the world. We change what counts as common sense. Because language activates frames, new language is required... as opportunities to learn and build more lifelong supports for self-determination that will generalize to early adulthood environments, consistent with Causal Agency Theory.
- Increase understanding of systemic factors (e.g., access to personalized supports, interventions, opportunities) that can be changed to maximize outcomes for autistic adolescents and young adults, with a focus on a strength-based perspective.
- Recognize and honor neurodiversity
Neurodiversity is the diversity of human minds, the infinite variation in neurocognitive functioning within our species.NEURODIVERSITY: SOME BASIC TERMS & DEFINITIONS Neurodiversity is a biological fact. It’s not a perspective, an approach, a... in all assessment and intervention design and implementation, as well as in all research activities.
Self-determination is a key value and outcome targeted in disability policies and human right treaties enacted over the past 30 years. The right to self-determination also continues to be a rallying cry in the self-advocate community.4 For example, the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN) states, ‘‘disability is a natural part of human diversity. Autism is something we are born with, and that shouldn’t be changed. Autistic children should get the support they need to grow up into happy, self-determined autistic adults.’’10
Second, interventions to promote self-determination have been developed that can support people with disabilities to take steps toward self-directed lives. Such interventions can be personalized based on strengths, interests, and supports. There is the inherent diversity in the autistic community (e.g., ‘‘There is no one way to be autistic’’).11 Understanding each autistic person’s strengths and support needs, from their perspective, must be a focus of self-determination interventions particularly during the transition to adulthood when there are new and changing demands.
Advancing the Personalization of Assessment and Intervention in Autistic Adolescents and Young Adults by Targeting Self-Determination and Executive Processes | Autism in Adulthood
Self-Determination Theory: Unapologetically Antithetical to Behaviorism
The locus of pathology exists not in the autistic person, but in the interaction between a hostile environment and the subjugated autistic. It is essential for parents, practitioners, educators, and autistic people themselves to ask the crucial question— Is the autistic a machine, or an organism? Are we active agents in our own embodied experience, or are we a locus of behavior? It is not with defiance, but autonomy, that I declare as an autistic person— I am not a manifestation of stimuli and response. I am agential. I am Autonomously Autistic.
Despite the field of Disability Studies’ rhetorical progress toward new models of disability, Autistic subjectivity is still locked within medical pathologies and assumptions of deficit. Self-Determination TheorySelf-determination Theory (SDT) is... — a model, a macro theory, of human motivation. It’s one of several models of human motivation, but it’s one that has been confirmed over and... provides an intriguing contrast to other psychological frameworks, making it possible to reconceptualize and re-localize deficit. We can then disrupt our assumptions and form new principles that empower autistic people to develop in autonomous, competent, connected, and self-directed ways.
Self-Determination Theory positions itself as directly and unapologetically antithetical to behaviorism
Autonomously Autistic | Canadian Journal of Disability StudiesUltimately behaviorism provides a simplistic lens that can’t see beyond itself.Why is the doctrine of behaviorism still being used, at all?How can ABA be the gold-standard for autism when it..., a fact that manifests in the literature repeatedly in behaviorist
Ultimately behaviorism provides a simplistic lens that can’t see beyond itself.Why is the doctrine of behaviorism still being used, at all?How can ABA be the gold-standard for autism when it... commentary…
Everyone should have the right to make choices. Some people make choices differentlyOur friends and allies at Randimals have a saying, What makes us different, makes all the difference in the world.Randimals We agree. Randimals are made up of two different animals... than others. Some people get help from a few friends or family members to make choices. Some people show other people what they have chosen through gestures or actions rather than words. But all people, no matter what disability they have or what support needs they have, can make choices.
Supported decision-making is an idea about the right to make choices. Everyone needs help to make decisions sometimes. DisabledThe label "disabled" means so much to me. It means I have community. It means I have rights. It means I can be proud. It means I can affirm myself... people might need more help. We might need a lot more help. But, needing help isn’t a good reason to take away someone’s choices. Supported decision making means that even if someone needs a lot of help, they still have the right to make their own choices.
We also have the right to communicate and tell people about the choices we make. We have the right to communicate in whatever way works best for us. Everybody communicates – whether using language, behavior, gestures, facial expressions, sounds, or other means. We have the right to use augmented and alternative communication (AAC) methods, like sign language, communication boards, and iPads. Effective communication is a key part of self-determination!
Self-Determination – Autistic Self Advocacy Network
Flow States Are the Pinnacle of Intrinsic Motivation
Flow
Craft, Flow and Cognitive StylesEntering flow states - or attention tunnels - is a necessary coping strategy for many of us.Fergus Murray People need to feel appreciated and safe, to give themselves to an... states are the pinnacle of intrinsic motivation, where somebody wants to do something for themselves, for the sake of doing it and doing it well.
⚖️ Equity Literate
With this in mind, my purpose is to argue that when it comes to issues surrounding poverty and economic justice the preparation of teachers must be first and foremost an ideological endeavour, focused on adjusting fundamental understandings not only about educational outcome disparities but also about poverty itself. I will argue that it is only through the cultivation of what I call a structural ideologyEducators with a structural ideology understand that educational outcome disparities are dominantly the result of structural barriers, the logical if not purposeful outcome of inequitable distributions of opportunity and access... of poverty and economic justice that teachers become equity literate
EquityA commitment to action: the process of redistributing access and opportunity to be fair and just.A way of being: the state of being free of bias, discrimination, and identity-predictable outcomes... (Gorski 2013), capable of imagining the sorts of solutions that pose a genuine threat to the existence of class inequity in their classrooms and schools.
The Direct Confrontation Principle
The Direct Confrontation Principle: The path to equity requires direct confrontations with inequity—with interpersonal, institutional, cultural and structural racism and other forms of oppression. “Equity” approaches that fail to directly identify and confront inequity play
Basic Principles for Equity LiteracyThere is nothing more human than play. Humans were designed to learn in play. In fact, nearly all mammals evolved this way.Play's Power At our learning space, we provide learners fresh... a significant role in sustaining inequity.

The Prioritization Principle

The Prioritization Principle: In order to achieve equity we must prioritize the interests of the students and families whose interests historically have not been prioritized. Every policy, practice, and program decision should be considered through the question, “What impact is this going to have on the most marginalizedFor me this space of radical openness is a margin a profound edge. Locating oneself there is difficult yet necessary. It is not a “safe” place. One is always at... students and families? How are we prioritizing their interests?”
Basic Principles for Equity Literacy
The “Fix Injustice, Not Kids” Principle
The “Fix Injustice, Not Kids” Principle: Educational outcome disparities are not the result of deficiencies in marginalized communities’ cultures, mindsetsThe marketing of mindsets was everywhere this year: “How to Develop Mindsets for Compassion and Caring in Students.” “Building A Tinkering Mindset In Young Students Through Making.” “6 Must-Haves for..., or grittiness, but rather of inequities
Basic Principles for Equity LiteracyEquityA commitment to action: the process of redistributing access and opportunity to be fair and just.A way of being: the state of being free of bias, discrimination, and identity-predictable outcomes.... Equity initiatives focus, not on “fixing” students and families who are marginalized, but on transforming the conditions that marginalize students and families.

Avoid These Equity Pitfalls
Avoid These Equity Pitfalls
- Universal Validation – Not all ideas and perspectives are equitable. We don’t want to validate someone’s racist perspective. Equity is not about universal validation.
- Equity Detours: Addressing Equity Problems with Cultural Solutions – There is no path toward equity that does not involve a direct confrontation with inequity.
- Lack of Leadership – The people with the most equity literacy
EquityA commitment to action: the process of redistributing access and opportunity to be fair and just.A way of being: the state of being free of bias, discrimination, and identity-predictable outcomes... have to be the people with the most powerThe 20th Century political scientist Karl Deutsch said, “Power is the ability not to have to learn.”I quote this statement often, because I think it’s one of the most important....
- Going at the Pace of the Most Resistant – We are prioritizing the comfort of the people who are most resistant instead of prioritizing the discomfort the most marginalized people in the institution experience.
- Doing What’s Popular Instead of Doing What’s Effective
- Embracing a Deficit IdeologyBriefly, deficit ideology is a worldview that explains and justifies outcome inequalities— standardized test scores or levels of educational attainment, for example—by pointing to supposed deficiencies within disenfranchised individuals and... Instead of a Structural Ideology – If your equity initiatives are about fixing marginalized people rather than about addressing the conditions that marginalize people, there’s no way to get to equity.
🔧 Open Technology
The Basics of Open Technology
No student will have mechanical limitations in access to either information or communication — whether through disability, inability at this moment, or even just discomfort. Learning is our goal, and we make it accessible.
- Student Control
- An Abundance of Tools
- Accessibility
- Access Everywhere
- BYOD and an Open Network
- Talk to Parents
- Worry About Behavior, Not Technology
- Spend Wisely
- TrustAutists conceptualise the world in terms of trusted relationships with unique people.The beauty of collaboration at human scale The Autistic way of developing trust is based on experienced domain-specific competence.... in Children and Childhood
Source: The Basics of Open Technology
Toolbelt Theory

We want our children to discover how to choose effectively for their own needs. To do that, they need choices, and so we believe in Toolbelt Theory.
The Basics of Open Technology
Tools matter though. They are the most basic thing about being human.
They matter most for those who lack the highest capabilities.
And everyone needs a properly equipped Toolbelt to get through life.
Toolbelt Theory for Everyone

Toolbelt TheoryToolbelt Theory is based in the concept that students must learn to assemble their own readily available collection of life solutions. They must learn to choose and use these solutions... is based in the concept that students must learn to assemble their own readily available collection of life solutions. They must learn to choose and use these solutions appropriately, based in the task to be performed, the environment in which they find themselves, their skills and capabilities at that time, and the ever-changing universe of high and low-tech solutions and supports.
So, the ToolbeltToolbelt Theory is based in the concept that students must learn to assemble their own readily available collection of life solutions. They must learn to choose and use these solutions... is designed to:
- Break the dependence cycle
- Develop lifespan technology skills
- Limit limitations
- Empower student decision making
- Prepare students for life beyond school
Source: A Toolbelt for a Lifetime
The Open Schoolhouse
We believe this act of human collaboration across an open platform is essential to individual growth and our collective future.
The Open Schoolhouse – Building a Technology Program to Transform Learning and Empower Students
The flat-world technology revolution asks us to rethink our notion of what it means to be educated and literate in the 21st Century. However, one traditional skill remains unchanged: the ability to artfully and effectively self-express through writing. Blogs, reports, essays, and Tweets; writing across multiple modalities is learning made visual–and a full keyboard is still the most efficient tool to hone this skill.
✅ Key Takeaways
- Dehumanizing practices do not belong in schools.
- Learning is rooted in purpose finding and community relevance.
- Social justice is the cornerstone to educational success.
- Create a neurodiverse inclusive environment.
- Seven Pathways to Ensuring Life Long Learning CompetenciesAll healthy and resilient institutions have a well-functioning competency network (Laloux 2014; Wilson 2015). A good way to understand competency networks is via the notion of trustworthiness and the nurturing...
- The Eight Principles of Good Autism Practice are embedded in four themes: ‘Understanding the Individual’, ‘Positive and Effective Relationships’, ‘Enabling Environments’, and ‘Learning and Development’.
- Autists conceptualise the world in terms of trusted relationships with unique people.
- Autistic students need strong, trusting relationships with their teachers and peers; a learning environment that suits their needs; and some flexibility and control over their time and rhythm of their learning
- Attend to the practices, policies, and aspects of institutional culture that traumatize children at school.
- We must infuse trauma-informed education with a robust understanding of, and responsiveness to, the traumas of systemic oppression.
- Dislodge hyper-punitive cultures and ideologies.
- Trauma-informed education is antiracist and against all forms of oppression.
- Trauma-informed education means centering our shared humanity.
- How do we build learning environments that embrace intrinsic motivation: autonomy, mastery, and purpose?
- Everyone should have the right to make choices.
- Flow states are the pinnacle of intrinsic motivation, where somebody wants to do something for themselves, for the sake of doing it and doing it well.
- People need to feel appreciated and safe, to give themselves to an activity; and they need to feel like they are making progress to keep giving themselves to it.
- Flow allows us to recharge.
- The path to equity requires direct confrontations with inequity.
- In order to achieve equity we must prioritize the interests of the students and families whose interests historically have not been prioritized.
- Educational outcome disparities are not the result of deficiencies in marginalized communities’ cultures, mindsets, or grittiness, but rather of inequities.
- No student will have mechanical limitations in access to either information or communication.
- Tools matter. They are the most basic thing about being human.
- We want our children to discover how to choose effectively for their own needs. To do that, they need choices, and so we believe in Toolbelt Theory.
👋🧷🌳 Space
It is time to celebrate our interdependence
The Beauty of Collaboration at Human Scale: Timeless patterns of human limitationsInterdependence acknowledges that our survival is bound up together, that we are interconnected and what you do impacts others. If this pandemic has done nothing else, it has illuminated how...! Collaboration allows us to create genuinely safe spaces for autistic and otherwise neurodivergent
Neurodivergent, sometimes abbreviated as ND, means having a mind that functions in ways which diverge significantly from the dominant societal standards of “normal.”NEURODIVERSITY: SOME BASIC TERMS & DEFINITIONS Neurodivergent is quite... people. We should expect society to support us in establishing new forms of creative collaboration, and we should not be forced individually to be “included” in toxic exploitative environments.
We create anti-ableist space for passion-based, human-centered learningA human-centered education: • Cultivates Purpose-Driven Classrooms • Ends Dehumanizing Practices • Demands Social Justice • Builds a Human-Centered World https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPO66Kan9fQ001u6s30EvXqNTpV-Mkdjp https://youtu.be/h9gQXG9T1RM Build human-centered classrooms around four values: • Learning... compatible with neurodiversity and the social model of disabilityIn the broadest sense, the social model of disability is about nothing more complicated than a clear focus on the economic, environmental and cultural barriers encountered by people who are.... We create space for those most ill-served by “empty pedagogy, behaviorism, and the rejection of equity“.
Create more anti-ableist spaces.
Jen White-Johnson
Let’s act to hold ALL spaces accountable for providing careThe activities that constitute care are crucial for human life. We defined care in this way: Care is "a species activity that includes everything that we do to maintain, continue,... and access to disabled folks with all types of bodies and minds.
We can start building more accessible, care-centered communities
Dr. Sami Schalk on TwitterWhat I have always been hoping to accomplish is the creation of community.Community is magic. Community is power. Community is resistance.Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century https://www.amazon.com/Disability-Visibility-First-Person-Stories-Twenty-First-ebook/dp/B082ZQBL98/ https://www.amazon.com/Disability-Visibility-Adapted-Young-Adults-ebook/dp/B08VFT4R9T/... now. We can combat ableism
able·ism /ˈābəˌlizəm/ nounA system of assigning value to people's bodies and minds based on societally constructed ideas of normalcy, productivity, desirability, intelligence, excellence, and fitness. These constructed ideas are deeply... now. We can lay the groundwork for a world that works better for all of us.
From Our Philosophy
They need to be able to breathe.
AUTISTICSCIENCEPERSON
Every time I get close to the edge Breathe real slow Breathe real slow Down to your belly, to your toes Breathe real slow --Breathe Real Slow by Jim Lauderdale
I think the key here is space.
“It’s Not Rocket Science” – NDTi

‘Rebellion’ is not enough. We need to build new systems from the ground up, right now.
Escaping extinction through paradigm shift
And it means grounding this effort in completely new frameWhen we successfully reframe public discourse, we change the way the public sees the world. We change what counts as common sense. Because language activates frames, new language is required... of orientation, one in which human beings are inherently interconnected, and inter-embedded within the earth; where we are not atomistically separated from the reality in which we find ourselves as technocratic overlords, but are co-creators of that reality as individuated parts of a continuum of being.
The spaces where we belong do not exist. We build them with radical love and revolutionary liberation.
GAYATRI SETHI, UNBELONGING

Online: Bringing Safety to the Serendipity
Online, we bring safety to the serendipitycreated serendipity: the more connected you are, the more ideas seem to find you, not the other way around.3 Obvious Ways Twitter Promotes Literacy – The Principal of Change Yet... with our distributed community and communication stack. Chance favors the connected mind. Our learners connect using 1:1 laptops and indie ed-tech. We give our learners real laptops with real capabilities, and we fill those laptops with assistive tech and tools of the trades.

Offline: Fresh Air, DayLight, and Large Muscle Movement
Offline, our learners enjoy fresh air, daylight, large muscle movement, and the freedom to stimSelf-stimulatory behavior, also known as stimming and self-stimulation, is the repetition of physical movements, sounds, or words, or the repetitive movement of objects Stimming - Wikipedia Autistic adults highlighted the importance of stimming as... and play. Ensure there is quiet space and outdoor space that people can access at any time.

Cavendish Space: Caves, Campfires, and Watering Holes for Dandelions, Tulips, and Orchids
We provide psychologically and sensory safe spaces suited to zone work, intermittent collaborationThe best solutions come from "intermittent collaboration" -- group work punctuated by breaks to think & work by ourselves.Daniel Pink Our cave, campfire, and watering hole moods map to the red, yellow,..., and collaborative niche constructionPositive Niche Construction--practice of differentiating instruction for the neurodiverse brainNeurodiversity in the Classroom Positive niche construction is a strengths-based approach to educating students with disabilities. Reimagining Inclusion with Positive Niche....

We Believe: Human-Centered, Trauma-Informed, Self-Determined, Equity Literate, Open Technology
Learning is rooted in purpose finding and community relevance.
Social justice is the cornerstone to educational success.
Dehumanizing practices do not belong in schools.
Learners are respectful toward each other’s innate human worth.